#7 Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia
When you're looking at where you'll spend at least two years of your life studying forensic science -- "the application of science to the law," as every forensics website feels obliged to point out -- it never hurts to spend those two years a quick jaunt from Washington, D.C., the center of much of the field's governing laws. Oh, and did we mention that DC is where most of of the jobs and internships are? Do not downplay the significance of this when you consider where you're going to study. An internship with Federal Agency X is probably the single best item for your resume when you're applying for a job at Federal Agency X. Trust us on this one. VCU's proximity to the nation's capital opens up possibilities for exposure to future employers and summer internships that schools in more distant areas can only dream of.
Of course, VCU's strengths are not all geographic. Here you'll find some intimate classes right inside Virginia's largest university, with the opportunity to chose a specialization in more fields than many schools offer: forensic chemistry or trace analysis; physical evidence; drug chemistry & toxicology; and forensic biology & DNA. VCU has also been ranked in the top 100 universities in North America.
Another striking aspect of VCU's forensics program is that several of the lab courses are taught right at the Virginia Department of Forensic's Science lab. Few things, we believe, are more instructive in an applied science than learning the skills in labs where working forensic scientists put them to use every day. For this, and the other reasons we mention, Virginia Commonwealth University's forensic science graduate program is our #7 pick of the best forensic science programs in the country.
